Michael Joel-Hansen, Larissa Kurz
Saskatoon StarPhoenix
For some, like Brian Ballantyne, it starts with a knock on the door.
Northern wildfires are forcing many communities to issue mandatory evacuation orders, and lives are suddenly upended.
Ballantyne — from the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation community at Pelican Narrows — is among the people who have been forced from their homes. Ballantyne was looking after his brother’s house when he heard what he described as persistent knocking at the door.
“They told me right away: ‘You want to come with us, we’re evacuating, you have to come with us to the band office,’” he said.
Evacuees to Saskatoon are being supported by the Canadian Red Cross, which is providing necessary supports out of the Cosmo Civic Centre.
Ballantyne said many people had already left ahead of the evacuation order, so the road into the community was not extremely busy as he was leaving. He said air quality was not bad, but added officials were expecting the wind to change and bring smoke into the Pelican Narrows townsite.
“I wasn’t planning on going out of town,” he said. “I was planning on staying there, but they told me you had to go.”
When it comes to the battle against fires threatening the community, Ballantyne said he saw water-bombers and helicopters working to contain the flames.
The province, in conjunction with the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency, on Thursday declared a state of emergency. As of Thursday, there have been 206 wildfires in Saskatchewan this year — well above the five-year average of 125.
“We are seeing the devastating effects of wildfires impact communities across our province,” Premier Scott Moe said.
The state of emergency will be in effect for 30 days and can be extended if necessary.
‘THAT WAS MY HAPPY PLACE’
Lana Sheppard said East Trout Lake is “devastated” after fire on Wednesday swept through, leaving the small resort subdivision north of Narrow Hills Provincial Park largely destroyed.
East Trout Lake was issued an evacuation orders earlier this week, along with nearby Little Bear Lake campground.
“There’s nothing left. Everything’s gone,” she said, after receiving aerial photos from the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency showing the aftermath.
Speaking from her home in Indian head, Sheppard said the small resort hamlet had about 50 cabins. Her father built their cabin in 1972, and generations of her family have spent summers there.
She reminisced Thursday about days spent fishing, playing cards on the deck, bird-watching. When she heard it was gone, Sheppard said she “cried her eyes out” over the loss.
“That was my happy place,” she said.
“The memories we have up there are invaluable, and it’s unbelievable that this has happened.”
She said she’s frustrated more wasn’t done to protect the hamlet before the fire, like cleaning out brush, prepping fire breaks or deploying more fire crews.
“We were responsible cabin owners. We all took care of our lots, and we did our best to make sure that we kept everything, and I really think the province has let us down,” she said.
“We have a government that is just reactive. They’re not proactive,” she added. “We need to have a system that moves before the fires arrive, not one that just goes in and counts the ashes.”
Sheppard has no idea when she’ll be able to travel north to check on what’s left on her lot, but she does know that their family intends to rebuild, to keep the tradition alive.
“It’s going to change a little bit, but it’s still East Trout Lake,” she said.
